Public Libraries in the news

Last week was National Libraries Week. Such commemorative markers in calendars might seem a dime a dozen these days but this one seems to have yielded fruit...

First, the government announced over the weekend a £250 million fund for spending on cultural institutions - mainly museums and libraries - to be administered by the Arts Council over the next five years. Note that this is a pledge, not a guarantee, during this ongoing, uncertain electoral period.

How ironic that the very government that has wielded the axe with such relish on our libraries service (and other social infrastructure) is now making gestures of compensation or rescue bids - for the very system they have decimated!

National cultural networks are, though, only the latest beneficiary of their miraculous new money tree.

Only the other day they announced 20,000 police recruits in coming years. These recruits are presumably filling the vacancies left by, erm, the 20,000 police officers that they have themselves cut.

Similarly, the libraries and museums announcement was made by Nicky Morgan, our Culture Secretary - yes, err, the same Nicky Morgan who said she would never serve in a Boris Johnson government.

With one hand they giveth, while with the other they taketh away.

Brazen electioneering and unprincipled politicians aside, we’ll take the £125 million or whatever it ends up being for libraries (should it come to pass).

This Brexit Tory papering over Austerity cracks is certainly better than nothing and to be welcomed.

Let’s see how the grants are awarded and to where, and must now trust in the Arts Council to administer it in an even-handed and as fair a manner as possible.

Then, hot on the heels of that announcement, today in the Houses of Commons, Lord Bird - founder of the Big Issue and library champion - has launched ‘Public Libraries: The Case for Support’.

This report is a rigorous examination of the arguments for libraries. There is lots of great data to back up the report’s claims as to the benefits of a thriving library system. It has been compiled in partnership with the library and information association, CILIP, led by Nick Poole, a tireless advocate for librarians and libraries.

I am very excited to read the report (I know, I’m a library geek), as have already been following some of its compilation via the Libraries Deliver and Libraries Connected initiatives. There are very compelling and eye-catching arguments made in this document. It’s an important publication.

It is smart too. For it is sometimes tough to explain why libraries are the solution, not the problem.

Besides, everyone has an issue they care about. There are lots of problems in society and other starved, deserving causes in our communities.

So making the case for libraries, framing the argument in an evidence-based manner, making sure their plight gets noticed, requires ingenuity and initiative. This report is a great case in point: it’s a clever and thorough piece of advocacy.

You can find the report - as well as what looks suspiciously like a government press release (!) on that new cultural investment fund - at librariesdeliver.uk

I hope that in a small way the Ex Libris podcast can also persuade people anew of the huge benefits and crucial importance of our libraries. We champion them in our episodes, as well as plucky independent bookshops, with the help of some of the greatest authors alive. These brilliant writers share their own experiences of these ‘palaces for the people’ (in Andrew Carnegie’s words). The personal insights offer a more emotional way-in to this conversation than policy reports or government announcements. Let these wordsmiths and storytellers persuade you of these spaces’ potency and critical importance.

Take their word for it.